Improvement in harvesters



nUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN SMALLEY, OF BOUND BROOK, NEW JERSEY.

IM PROVEM-ENT IN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 23,618, dated April 12,1859.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN SMALLEY, of BoundBrook, in the State of New Jersey, have made certain Improvements inReaping and Mowing Machines; and I do hereby declare that following is afull and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the driving-wheel, which supports the main frame W W of themachine. The cogwheel B is attached to the driving-wheel A and takesinto pinion O, thus transmitting mo. tion to bevel-wheel E, which isattached to the shaft D of the pinion. This sbaftDis provided with twocollars, JJ. The neck Ifitsloosely between these collars. The bottomedges ot'neck I rest upon the sides of groove Hin the standard J', (seeFigure 6,which represents across-Seaton through the neck and groove,) soas to be free to slide back and forth, and thus move the shaftD in thedirection ot' its axis either way without straining it orimpedin g itsrevolution,while the lower part of the groove El contains thelubrieatingmaterial. This side motion of the shaft D can be produced by means ofthe slot c in the end of lever d taking hold of a pin projecting fromthe top of the neck I. This lever is pivoted at c, and is provided witha handle at its rear end, which rests upon a standard and plays betweentwo projections, t' z', of said standard. (See Fig. 2.) A pin, f, andtwo holes, g hf, serve to retain the lever in any ofitsextremepositions. Theobjectofthislateral adjustability of the shaftD, produced by means of lever d, neck I, and collars J J, as described,l

is to bring the bevel-wheel E into or out of gear with bevel-gear F,according as it may be desired to work the cutting apparatus or not.When the two bevel-wheels are in gear the shaft G transmits motion tothe disk K, which latter, by means of a crank-pin, L, gives areciprocating motion to the rod N and cutterbar O,tl1e lower end of rodN being pivoted to the inner end of thecutter-bar. This end of thecutter-bar is bent forward to where the rod N is jointed to it for thepurpose that this joint may be sufficiently far in front of the piece Tnot to come in contact with it, so as to allow the front surface, a, ofthe piece T to be straight, thus affording ample bearing-sun,

face for the straight portion ot' the end of the cutter-bar. The pieceT, to which the ngerbar l? is screwed, can be adjusted in the slotin the-piece U, projecting from the main frame of the machine. The line inwhich the piece T can be moved in said slot is oblique, as will be seenfrom Fig. l of the drawings, and is at right angles to the axis ot' diskK, so that the piece T may be adjusted in the slot to any desired heightwithoutrfstraiuing the joint of rod N. The length of thgrod N can beadjusted so as to suit the adjustment of the piece T by means of socketM, into which its end screws.

The cnlters R are provided with small openings S below thecutter-bar,which, in combination with the enlargement Q of the fingers,serve to work out ine grass, 85o., which is apt to gather between thelingers Q and the bottom'surface of the cutters in rear of theircutting-edges.

The divider d is screwed to the outer end of the finger-bar P, as seenat Fig. 1, which represen ts the machine when arranged for mowing. Apiece, c', is screwed or bolted to the divider, and is made witlltwo ormore sockets for the support of clearin garnis a. b. These sockets arearranged nearly in the same vertical plane. The piece c is also providedwith a hub, 3, in which is a hole, c, for the reception and support of acaster-wheel when the machine is to be moved from field to lield. It hasalso an extension, x", by which it is fastened to thefmger-bar Panddivider d by means of the bolts m' m. By reference to Fig. l it will beseen that piece c answers a threefold purposenviz., first-,a ri gidsupport to the trackclearing arms; second, a support to a casterwheelwhen the machine is to be moved from eld to lield after it has beenadjusted for mowing, and, lastly, a means of bracing the divider, so asto render it less liable to get out of its true relative position asrespects the linger-bar I than would be the case if the piece c werenotI provided with the projection w.

The piece f' with a shield, g', for keeping the grain or grass fromentangling with the cutterbarjoint, is screwed to the piece 'I. It isalso fastened to frame W by means of rod V for the purpose of bracingthe piece T more effectually. The rod V is jointed to the front end ofthe piece f', and the front end of the rod is screw-threaded, so as toadapt the rod V to the adjustments ot' the piece T in the slot U. Thepiece to which the front end of the rod V is screwed is attached to theframe W by and turns around the bolt z".

When the machine is to be used for reaping the platform h', Fig. 3, isattached to the machine by passing bolts through the corresponding holesn' n' a' and e' e' e', and fastening bolts l' l' in the holes m' m afterthe piece c' has been removed..

When the machine is to be transported from field to field a caster-wheelis attached to the outer end of the iingerfbar by passing Athe shankofthe caster-wheel through the hole in ,the piece c'. A similarcaster-wheel, o', is attached to the dividing-board k' of the platformh' by passing its shank through the hole in the piece p', screwed to theboard k', and preventing it from dropping out by means of a pin, q'.Another caster-wheel, s', ofthe same construction is attached to therear corner of the machine, as seen in Fig. 2.

A Two seats, Y and Z, are connected by a frame, b b, aud rest uponelliptical springs X X, X' X', so as to ease and balance the seals. Y isthe drivers seat when using themachine tor reaping. The rakers scat Zcan be turned on a pivot, a, so as to accommodate the raker in hisoperations. When mowing the driver takes the seat Z, so as to add hisweight toward throwing the machine backward.

The frame i@ u is pivoted to the outer ends of the shaft ot' thedriving-wheel A. This allows the frame and the reel attached toit to beswung more or less toward the cutting apparatus, and to betxed in anydesired position by means of slotted arcs 7c k, one on each side ot'theframe W W', and set-screws m, Without altering the distance betweenthe driving-pulley I and the reel-shaft pulley q. When mowing the wholeweight of the reel and reel-frameis thrown back as far as the slottedarcs allow. Aside from this adjustment, however, the reel can be placedhigher or lower by bolting the reel-shaft bearings u v to any of theholes t. Une of these bearings, o, is open, so as to allow ihe'shaft tobe raised and withdrawn wheneve it is desired. to remove the reel.

The reel consists of horizontal blades z, attached to vertical arms xand to oblique arms y, which arms are fastened to a metallic connectionor hub, w, upon the end of the reelshaft 10.

Fig. 5 represents the draft-pole, to be fastened to the machine by thebolt Ir".

The metallic hub w is of peculiar construction, so as to receive thearms, as fully shown in the drawings. This hub w is usually made ofcast-iron, and is so formed that the arms x are supported at rightangles to the reel-shaft p, in sockets 'i i i z', entirely open on oneside, while the arms y are supported in similar sockets, 2 2 2 2, in anoblique position, with their ends meeting and abutting against eachother in front ot' the end ot' the reel-shaft, as shown in Fig. 1. Byadopting the form of hub as herein described for supporting thereel-arms it can be conveniently molded and cast, while at the same timelightness and strength is combined.

The track-clearer used for mowing is shown in Fig. 1. It consists of twoarms, a' b', extending back and inwardly. These bars extend back innearly the same vertical plaue until near the end, when the top armturns in for the purpose of tipping or turning the cut grass in from thestanding or uncut grass.

` Having described my improved reaper and mower, what I claim therein asnew, and for 'which I desire to secure Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the seats Y Z, one of which is movable, asdescribed, with the seatframe b b, elliptical springs X X, X X', andmain frame of the machine, the whole being arranged substantially asdescribed andshowu, and for the purposes set forth.

2. Constructing the outer piece, c', in the peculiar manner abovedescribed-viz., with two or more sockets, a", in combination with thecaster-supporting hub 3 and extensionpiece 90"-for the purposes setforth.

3. The neck I, in combination with collars J J, groove H, standard J',and lever d, arranged substantially as shown and described, for thepurpose of throwing the gearing in and out of action, as set forth.

4. Supporting the reel-arms by means ofthe peculiarlyconstructed hub w,as shown and described.

JOHN SMALLEY.

Witnesses ELISHA L. SCHANK, WILLIAM S. LONG.

